By Tom S. Noda
Computerworld Philippines
March 11, 2010

A Filipino technoprenuer and two other local professionals were recently honored by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum, earning the Young Global Leaders (YGL) for 2010 tribute.

The honorees were Winston Damarillo, founder and CEO of Global Gateway Innovation Exchange (G2iX); Karen Davila, news reporter/anchor of ABS-CBN; and Major Dennis Eclarin, founder of Hometown Corporation. All three took the stage along with 197 YGL winners for 2010, all belonging to 72 countries and are stakeholders of society.

Damarillo, who currently chairs three companies which include Exist Global, Morphlabs and MaestroDev, said the honor is a testament to how Filipinos can help shape the future of the world.

“It is also a good opportunity for information technology to be in the forefront of global development,” Damarillo said. “More importantly, this is an opportunity to serve as a global citizen. I am truly humbled and excited to be part of the active community of the World Economic Forum.”

All three companies that Damarillo now heads have been described as innovative leaders in the respective IT industries they are in. Morph Labs is a cloud computing provider, while MaestroDev is an innovative tooling-automation company. G2iX serves as his latest venture that unifies the portfolio to deliver a complete innovation platform. 

Damarillo now joins an elite company of past YGL honorees from the information technology sector which include Google co-Founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page; YouTube co-Founder Chad Hurley; Twitter and Blogger founder, Ev Williams; as well as Mark Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com.

Damarillo last year was also given recognition from eServices for his numerous contributions as a key driver for the development of the Philippine IT industry as board member and international marketing director for the Philippine Software Industry Association. The latter is a non-profit organization that aims to promote the growth and global competitiveness of the Philippine software industry. He is also a trustee of the Ayala Foundation USA, an organization committed on delivering social development initiatives for the Filipino in the Philippines and around the world.

Yet for Davila, the Forum honored her as a media personality who has made an advocacy for the creation of documentaries for children and poverty in society as well. Eclarin, however, was recognized for providing loans to micro-entrepreneurs in remote provinces.

The 2010 Filipino honorees have now joined past Filipino YGL invitees, which include Senators Mar Roxas and Chiz Escudero as well as social entrepreneur Iliac Diaz and Paolo Benigno ‘Bam’ A. Aquino IV. 

Since 2005, the Forum recognizes and acknowledges up to 200 outstanding global young leaders from different disciplines for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world through their inspiring leadership qualities.
 
A big YGL event at the World Economic Forum will took place in Latin America at Cartagena, Colombia on April 6 to 8, 2010 and then followed by the YGL Annual Summit at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on May 2 to 7, 2010.

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By Tom S. Noda
Computerworld Philippines
November 5, 2009

Expanding operations in the Philippines, NetSuite is eyeing to enable the country’s government initiatives to become cloud-based, according to Zach Nelson, CEO of cloud computing business management software company NetSuite.

Nelson said the company’s NetSuite Version 2009.2 has recently been localized not only for Philippine-based businesses but to also fit in the government’s various government departments.

“Our NetSuite Version 2009.2 has been localized to meet the requirements of the country’s department of finance (DoF) and bureau of internal revenue (BIR),” Nelson said. 

He added BIR itself has endorsed the localized offering by awarding certification for NetSuite to use the product itself for its local operations in Manila. 

Some of the government initiatives that NetSuite plans to bring up in the cloud or Internet, involve withholding tax, key tax compliance, reporting and data export requirements, among others.

Nelson described the city of Manila as a “key center” for NetSuite’s global technical support, services and back-office operations. The company’s facility continues to expand and is working to advance its capabilities on product development and quality assurance.

“NetSuite today is the largest cloud software [vendor] company in the Philippines,” Nelson claims, adding the company recently opened two new offices located in RCBC towers 1 and 2 in Makati City.

From NetSuite’s original 300 staffer numbers upon its launch in the Philippines in 2007, the company now has about 600 employees.

“Our Philippine headquarters now serves as NetSuite’s largest office location outside the US,” Nelson noted. “Manila’s strong, business-friendly infrastructure has been a tremendous asset to NetSuite, along with a top-notch educational system and well-spoken, service-driven employees. And the acceptance of our cloud-based business applications product by global companies headquartered in Manila is a great testament to the strength of NetSuite in meeting the needs of local industry leaders.”

Nelson said NetSuite is focused on growing further its internal business operations in the Philippines that includes software architecture and integration, finance and back office support, professional services and client management and technical support.

Among NetSuite’s leading customer companies in the Philippines are Jollibee, ABS-CBN, Diamond Fleet Management System, and MOTECH Automotive Education Center, Incorporated.

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